Hosting out-of-towners this holiday season? Take them for a festive fête at a fresh locale.
Written by KIKI DY
THE HOSTESS CITY has always known how to set a table and celebrate a holiday. But lately, Savannah’s dining scene’s creativity and cachet is expanding at a pace that would put Dasher and Dancer to shame. Whether you’re a local entertaining loved ones or a visitor searching for trendy eats and inimitable atmospheres, here are a few new entrants from celebrated Savannah teams where you can impress and indulge.
Silk Route
Belle Alolong’s new multicultural offering opened to a zealous reception from in-the-know foodies this summer. One-part restaurant, one-part lounge, Silk Route’s lush design will make you forget you’re in the same 2-mile radius as your endocrinologist or accountant.
The menu melds and meanders after its eponymous trade route, meaning even regulars can expect surprise and satisfaction. Braised lamb, whole (head-on) branzino, Bukhara kebab, and salted egg prawns are subject to the whims and epiphanies of the chefs. Wines by the glass from Armenia, Lebanon, and Slovenia add to the adventure.
Alolong and staff tease what may appear on the menu for winter, including Alolong’s homestyle winter favorite, palabok: a Filipino stir-fry noodle with shrimp paste.
Like the holiday season, bringing Silk Route to life has been “equal parts chaos and magic,” says Alolong, whose other restaurant is The Narra Tree. She’s enjoyed the journey, “from sketching out arches and bar designs on paper and building it by hand,” she says, “to finally seeing guests gathered around a table sharing mezze, hearing live music, and feeling that energy I always imagined.”
Whom to bring: your worldly confidant or your rogue scion
Lucia Pasta Bar
Starland Dairy gets long-sought-and-salivated-after new life with Lucia Pasta Bar by Chef Kyle Jacovino (Vittoria Pizza, The Florence).
Locals have been waiting years for the old Starland Dairy to find its second act, and now they’ll have to wait for a table — yes, it’s already that buzzy and busy.
The courtyard creatively utilizes signs of its prior disuse. The design team worked around the graffiti and urban-chic ambiance to make that negroni-as-you-wait a delight unto itself.
Jacovino keeps it unfussy but upmarket. The 15-seat bar feels as though it could be in any world-class city, and the food only cements that sentiment. Open your ears for a friendly eavesdrop, and you’ll likely overhear more than one guest revealing that this is their second squid-ink bucatini or campanelle arrabbiata this week.
Soon, patrons to the pasta bar will be able to eliminate pasta-decision paralysis with a new offering. Jacovino explains that the program launches in November and features a menu design inspired by those found in dim sum restaurants. “Guests will be able to check how many [pastas] they want to try from the list,” he says.
Whom to bring: your out-of-town paramour or your mischievous second cousin
Little James
Neighboring The Grey and The Malin, The Ann Savannah has become a commendable, around-the-clock rallying point. Little James, named for city founder Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, offers espresso service, cocktails, and a guiltless but gratifying Mediterranean menu (think anchovy toast, a stacked eggplant sandwich, Greek salad, and more).
As the day unfolds, Little James transitions into a lively dining destination that doesn’t kick merry revelers out prematurely. Guests can linger over a matchatini, the James Old Fashioned (which includes the avant-garde addition of rhubarb), and other nightcaps. If you need an impetus to treat yourself during the daylight this holiday season, their “Wine Happy Hour” from 12–2 p.m. during the week will send you back out into the afternoon with the right buzz. If you feel tempted, return for their jam sessions featuring different local musicians on the first and third Fridays of each month from 5–8 p.m.
“We are so excited to open the doors to Little James,” says Chef Ryan Alpaugh. “The restaurant is dedicated to making guests and locals feel right at home. We’re here to help you savor every moment.”
Whom to bring: your favorite coworker, your corporate-chic college friends, or that nemesis you’re trying to impress
Veratina
Wife-and-husband team Alicia Farrell and James Ciminillo became Savannah’s pasta pundits with the opening of Veratina earlier this year. The couple first came to culinary acclaim with Coop De Ville in Pittsburgh where Ciminillo was part owner and chef de cuisine; Farrell is a former attorney who is now at Veratina daily.
“Veratina has been a long-held dream,” shares Farrell. Since transforming 606 Abercorn St. (previously a restaurant called The Haunt) into a sunlit, white-and-sage-hued trattoria, Ciminillo makes and serves Savannah’s most underutilized pasta shapes (quiz your guests to describe mafaldine or strozzapreti) in-house.
The two alfresco areas, albeit small, are delightful options for savoring specialty cocktails by 2024 Torres Brandy Zero Challenge National Final winner Loni Lewis, such as the Mr. Meletti (bourbon, Meletti amaro, and fig and vanilla shrub) or the Cumulous (gin, marsala, lemon, demerara, and foaming bitters).
If your guests are delighted, bribe them back next holiday season with the promise of the Coop De Ville coming to Eastern Wharf.
Whom to bring: your extended family, your gal pals, or yourself (for a moment of peace)
Bread & Butter
See a croissant in the wild? It’s most likely by Auspicious Baking Co. In fact, many restaurants sitting alongside Bread & Butter in this story roundup proudly serve Auspicious’ eatables (Little James, Sunday Sunday). The small bakery born from a GoFundMe has become synonymous with pastries throughout Savannah, and now, their long-awaited sit-down overdelivers on its simple promise. Bread & Butter sits waterside on Whitemarsh Island, and, indeed, one can make a meal out of bread and butter. If you’re feeling festive, an alfresco French toast or shakshuka croissant are sure to satisfy even the most discerning bruncher.
Pillowy brioche, laminated croissants, and crusty sourdough travel just as well to your table as they do to your own kitchen counter. However, the breezy waterside backdrop makes a case for lingering and fa-la-la-ing a little. Bread & Butter is the affordable, low-stakes, highly satisfying meal your out-of-towners won’t forget soon.
Whom to bring: picky eaters, Lowcountry newcomers, or anyone uninitiated into the culte de Auspicious
Sunday Sunday
The building at 116 Whitaker Street has had many past-lives: it’s been a tailor’s, most recently New Realm Brewing, and now the city’s first French-Vietnamese restaurant. Rhino Hospitality Group’s (Madame Butterfly, The Vault, Flock to The Wok) latest outpost, Sunday Sunday, has an ethos much like the city itself — a nod to and a reimagining of the contributions of generations past.
Cross-cultural chemistry and community are the names of the game. Owner Ele Tran’s grandmother’s bánh xèo crepes sit alongside saluted Southern standards such as shrimp and grits and lemon pancakes. This is a place to celebrate family and all the flavors and recipes that come along with that. Expect checkerboard floors, wooden bistro chairs, exposed brick, and a prime trilevel Historic District location that positions you for window shopping, barhopping, or an arm-in-arm afternoon stroll.
Whom to bring: your quasi-contentious mother-in-law or your classy cohort from college
Natasha Gaskill // Robin Elise Photography
Sixby
Tucked into Thomas Square next to Lone Wolf Lounge and across from Switchyards, Natasha Gaskill’s breakfast nook and breadquarters only gets better every month. The cafe now has indoor seating, a sandwiches-in-fellowship program that rotates a new menu item by a lauded regional chef every six weeks (in November, it’s Dano Heinze from Vern’s in Charleston), and wine dinners with more frequency and fanfare.
It’s become quite the destination. “We get a lot of lunching ladies from Ardsley who come, sit outside, and chat over wine. We definitely attract the hip grandmother sect,” says Gaskill, who used to serve as executive pastry chef at The Grey.
On the third Friday of every month, Tyler Kenny (previous chef de cuisine at Flora and Fauna) will spearhead a three-course spread accompanied by wine pairings. Guests can enjoy the bounty at a communal table, beneath twinkling lights and Spanish moss tendrils. Sixby’s holiday market will also return with all the mulled wine, spiked coffee, artisanal vendors, and enchantment as last year.
If you’re hosting Thanksgiving but not much of a baker, you can order classic pies, dinner rolls, and more from the first week of November through Nov. 21.
Whom to bring: your childhood co-conspirators, your hip grandmother, or someone else’s hip grandmother
The Laundry Diner
There’s no shortage of nostalgic nods, kitsch, and culinary comforts at Liz and James Massey’s (also of Two Tides, Smol Bar, and Float Coffee) all-day diner named for the building’s previous life as Rogers Laundry.
While the old laundromat on the corner of Paulsen and Anderson pressed collars and linen, the building now presses patty melts and waffles. Downstairs, the ambiance is classic diner-debonair with hunter-green barstools, exposed brick walls, and an open kitchen line where guests can watch the team work their way through a shift with verve and humor.
Sip a matcha milkshake or boozy party punch as you anticipate your steak frites and eggs, shorty rib hash bowl, or — if you’re overstuffed — the best Caesar salad (and one of the only around with white anchovies). For your out-of-towners with dietary restrictions, the Caesar can accommodate all with just a couple of simple switches, chef Brian Fiasconaro says, noting, “Our dressing is completely vegan and gluten free.”
Another point of pride for Fiasconaro: the new happy hour offerings, chiefly oysters. “It’s hard to get oysters for people who don’t want to go downtown,” Fiasconaro says. “On behalf of myself, Liz, and James, we’re just happy to be offering good food to a good neighborhood that definitely needed it.”
Whom to bring: that hip friend you met in a bar bathroom 10 years ago or your nieces and nephews
Flora and Fauna
If the walls of Flora and Fauna could talk, they would say, “Thank goodness someone is still making Cheryl’s biscuit recipe.” From the FARM Bluffton family (Common Thread, Strange Bird), Flora and Fauna brings new life to the eclectic storefront that once housed Cheryl Day’s Back in the Day Bakery. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., cronuts and muffins stun alongside standouts like a shaved porchetta sandwich, a mushroom-preserve baguette, and a holiday-hangover-healing cheeseburger. Yes, they still use Day’s biscuit recipe — and offer a wealth of toppings. After 5 p.m., their blind chef’s tasting menu for $55 is a superb option for those who would like to mitigate even more decision fatigue this holiday season. For those who prefer to control their own destiny, the restaurant recently rolled out an à la carte menu.
“I love the artistry of the food from every FARM outpost. How detailed the chefs are and how much a labor of love every dish is really inspires me,” says AJ Grey, a midtown multi-hyphenate who works at both Flora and Fauna and Common Thread and fronts Savannah’s all-female grunge band, The Maxines. (Bonus: If you have guests who love live music, don’t miss The Maxines opening for Kylesa and Royal Thunder at District Live on Dec. 4).
Whom to bring: early-rising romantics or your eccentric auntie who loves estate sales
